Sunday, 26 August 2007

Fantastic 4 MeMe & David Lebovitz's Black Bottom Cupcakes

A week ago the lovely KJ from A Cracking Good Egg tagged me for the Fantastic Four MeMe. KJ has a lot of terrific recipes on her blog, like her Chocolate Buttermilk Pancakes that I will be making for breakfast this morning as soon as I finish this MeMe. I love Sunday mornings!

For this Meme, I have to list four points for five categories. I will keep some points brief since I my tummy is calling out for pancakes. Feel free to ask me questions if you would like to know more. So here I go:

4 Jobs I've had:

(1) Bakery Assistant. I took up this job so that I can buy my sister a wedding present with my own money. This was the physically most tiring and most under paid job I ever had. I was paid $4.50 an hour and was on my feet from 8.30am till 10.30pm. I did everything except for the baking - serving, packing, cashier, cleaning, cake decorating, etc. The only reason why I hung on to that job for 3 months was because I wanted to work close to home, it gave me the exposure to what it was like to run a bakery, the owners were nice (they gave me a raise - I was initially paid $4/hr), I could eat as much bread as I wanted and I could bring home all the leftover breads.

(2) Volunteer at a large hospital in Perth. I spent most of my time with elderly patients. I also got to push a tea trolley and made drinks for them. It was enjoyable but I also felt sad for them because some patients didn't have any visitors and were battling terminal illness.

(3) University Tutor. I've been tutoring first year psychology for the last three years. I've always been doing some sort of teaching/training/talks for the last 10 years.

(4) Forensic Psychologist. I was doing that for 6 years and although it was a very fulfilling job, I felt really burnt out and I also realised that it gave me a rather dark view of life. That's why I've switched to clinical psychology.

4 Places I've lived:

(1) Singapore, where I was born.

(2) Ann Arbor, Michigan (USA). Lived there for a year when I was at the University of Michigan on a 1-year research scholarship.

(2) Hawaii. I took a surfing class and tried surfing. All I can say is that I got 10/10 for effort!

(3) British Columbia, Canada. I had my first taste of skiing when I was there. I was by myself and I signed up for a beginners class. It was fun but I still found it a bit scary so all I did was go up and down the bunny slope. :-)

(4) Scotland. I was very fascinated by the castle in the middle of Edinburgh.

(4) New Zealand. I've heard so much about NZ through a Kiwi friend and recent travel shows I've seen on TV.

Thanks for tagging me KJ. That was fun and brought back good memories. Now, on to the cupcakes. And I'm off to make KJ's pancakes. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!

David Lebovitz's Black Bottom Cupcakes

You can find the recipe for this utterly luscious black bottom cupcake from David Lebovitz's The Great Book of Chocolate and also via this site. It is moist and not overly sweet - I love the contrast between the fluffy choc cake, creamy cheese and the chunks of choc. I highly recommend this recipe.

I followed the recipe exactly (yes, sometimes I do know how to follow instructions!). It's super easy. The only thing to be aware of is do not over-mix the chocolate mixture. If you do over-mix it, the cupcakes will still turn out ok, but might be a little on the dry side. The first time I made this, I made it in a square cake pan (see photo below) and it also worked out fine. I've also made the recipe with the addition of an egg in the cake mixture and it also turned out super moist and fluffy.

I have seen recipes for these Black Bottom Cupcakes and their cream cheese centres. They are on my list of must haves. I would join you and Quikong for breakfast and pancakes but it is Saturday night here.

Valentina - You've got to make some. I think your brothers will like them. p/s: yes, I am.

Lydia - heh heh, you're right! :-)

Valli - Sunday is almost gone for me and now it's your turn to enjoy Sunday.

Kelly M - I am about to have another cupcake...they're addictive.

KJ - The sunshine will be coming our way soon. Thank you for tagging me. It's a nice walk down memory lane. :-) The pancakes turned out perfect - I added some caster sugar as your suggested and I served it with caramelised bananas. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I will try it with orange next time.

Wendy - Unfortunately, the job is not as "sexy" as CSI. It is exciting and fast paced, but it's hard to shake off the cases when I am not at work.

Wow! That cupcake really caught my eye... and my imagination! I'm going to have to make these, soon...Bakery assistant? Loooong day, I would have needed lots of sugar to keep me going...I've always wanted to visit Singapore.

Hi Nora, just catching up on my blog reading (missed a lot - your sushi class sounds fun!). These cupcakes look lovely! I´m proud to say that I already knew most of your meme but it was an interesting read nonetheless!

Katie & Veron - If you haven't tried these before, then I would say, what are you waiting for!? ;-) I love these cupcakes. It's a good one to make if you need to bring a sweet treat somewhere because you can make it the day before and it's still yummy and moist for 2-3 days, or longer if it's in teh frige.

Tigerfish - I know what you mean ;-)

Thanks, Anh. So we have a lot in common, huh? Somehow that doesn't surprise me :-)

Big Boys Oven - Thank you.

Hi Eva!!! It's nice to see a comment from you, I know you are busy eating all that lovely German breads. I'm glad that you know me so well. :-)

Thanks Patricia - The funny thing is that I don't even remember now what I bought for her.

Janet - These cupcakes were hard to resist. I've frozen some and brought some to a tea party I went to on Sunday. That was the only way not to finish it all in one day.

Nora, this is such an interesting cake. Oh, you are from Singapore originally. I spent 21 days there recently on a work assignment.Even though I did not have loads of time to tour around i loved it. Loved the food, the social side of eating, the total celebration that it is. the weather reminded me a lot of home - I grew up in North Brazil which is in very similar proximity to the equator. i would love to go back one day - not to work.

Hi Nora! first of all I hope you hade a great weekend.I can't believe you were in ann arbor for a year. I live about an hour from there. I go to ann arbor every time I can. I can't believe you are a psychiatric.Now I will watch more what I say.

We've just got back and I'm loving everything that you've been writing while we've been away. Great meme answers and those cupcakes look very much like they need to be on a plate in front of me right now.

Valentina - Glad that you had a good time in Singapore. We eat all times of the day in Singapore, you can ALWAYS find something open somewhere. The local food is so affordable and the variety endless. hmm... now you are making me long for Singapore even more!

Rose, you are so funny! Of course you can say what you want, if I analyze what you say then I'll have to charge you ;-) I had a great weekend, full of chocolate. :-)

Helene - Great! These cupcakes are more-ish.

Kirsten - Really??!!? I've always wanted to have a relative to visit in Arizona. :-) I have a few cupcakes in the freezer ready for me to zap in the microwave when I feel a choc urge coming.

Amanda - Welcome back! I missed hearing from you. I look forward to catching up with you on your blog.

Stephen - I think that since Singapore is such a tiny island, most Singaporeans love to travel. Maybe someday you'll visit us down-under.

Nora b - How divine your cupcakes look. I love the depth of flavour encased therein - sometimes the use of chocolate is so adulterated so as to result in something flatly chocolate, not drawing out the nuances in its complex flavour. Gorgeous. And we'd (I speak on behalf of every Kiwi) love to have you visit our nation of islands.

About Me

For the love of food

... looking, thinking, reading, researching, smelling, creating, discussing, tasting, sharing & dreaming about food.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~Many years ago, I moved to Sydney from a tiny island near the equator. It is no secret that I am obsessed about food. My Aussie husband ("Quikong") claims that he doesn't really care about food. In reality, he is actually a gourmand-in-denial & my harshest critic. Therefore, I've made him the official taster of the recipes I will post.